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Ok Folks, the regatta is in the books and it was a beauty! Big ice, big breeze, and a big fleet all combined to make this the best Easterns in quite awhile. At one point I counted at least two dozen boats on the line- easily the best turnout we’ve had in ages. So a big round of applause to all who showed up! We had a lot of familiar faces, some returning class veterans and some new racers in the group as well- Well done to these guys for jumping in at the deep end-

It’s kind of a blur but I’ll do my best here….

The place was Shelburne, VT- found and scouted with great expertise and detail by the one and only Paul Gervais and his loyal dog Sailor, the biggest, coolest lab ever. Thanks to Paul for that and for not going ballistic the next day when the authorities told him that Sailor couldn’t hang out at the launch site. The ice had a bit of texture due to late season weather stuff but was safe enough once you crossed a pretty impressive pressure ridge. No planks needed, a good omen.

Yes, we had breeze- plenty, easily into the 20+ knot range. The first race brought some drama as there was one pirouette executed by Jack Goritsky that left him with a bloody nose and a bruised arm. His rig was temporarily fixed with a pair of Vise-Grips that he keeps in his boat and he was good to go-

Ron Bouchard and Andre Baby, along with John Zimmerman later in the day ran races and kept score- The flags are stranded in the back of Steve Madden’s car so we used a genuine burlap sack donated by Chris Miller for a checkered flag. Possibly the first DN racing in history that can call lap three the “burlap lap”.

Anyway the racing was fast and furious- Jim Hadley is getting back into DN racing after a hectic few years of hurricanes and fatherhood- hasn’t slowed him down a bit as he was fast and fearless in the breeze as ever! Great to see him back on the course. He and your author had several close races- as I said at the time we passed the lead back and forth like a doobie at a Grateful Dead concert!

Not a day for the faint of heart or people with any degree of common sense so a few sailors decided to err on the side of caution and keep boats and bodies intact for Sunday.

When the dust settled and the seventh- yes the seventh!- race was done we had the luxury of getting the scores done from a world away- Loretta Rehe and Deb Whitehorse are out in the
Nevada desert near Vegas scoring a land sailing regatta and said to send photos of the score sheets and they would do the tally- Have to love A) them for making the offer and B) smart-phones for making this possible. How these two could possibly be bored enough in Vegas to do this is beyond me (pretty much everything short of outright murder is legal there) but we are very grateful that they took a break from gambling and God knows what other distractions that town has to offer to let us know what happened with our little regatta on the other side of the continent…. Thanks ladies! Hope you are staying more or less out of trouble….

Speaking of results….

Not yet. Also have to thank Eben Whitcomb and Chad Atkins for motivating this one- they sorted the bulk of the details along with a slew of people too numerous to list here- you know who you are and thanks one and all!

-NEIYA Vice Commodore John Stanton finished enough races to take 14th before his boat decided to race off without him- apparently it jumped the pressure ridge with no problem and ended up basically in the woods miles away- not bad! Of course this begged the question of whether or not his boat was faster with him not actually in it…
-Chris MAyer (US 4596) was just ahead in lucky 13th
-John Millbank and Fred Steinbaum took 12th and 11th (close regatta, only a few points apart)
-Warren Nethercote showed serious cajones for a lightweight and took tenth-
-Chris Miller showed up in a slick new CSI boat and got dialed in enough to take 9th- watch out for this guy over the next few seasons, he’s gonna be going real fast real soon- as soon as he gets his chocks glued back on!
-Joe Meade sailed well to take 8th- he’s a big guy and I’m sure this didn’t hurt this day! HE had a Go-Pro camera rigged up, hope to see some footage from that bad-boy soon-
-Peter Van Rossem was 7th- he was top Canuck sailing an Atkins-built hull he picked up a few years ago- he’s another one getting faster and faster-
-Don Brush used his experience and guile to take 6th-
-Guy Lovejoy is returning to the class and I guess his practicing with Joe Meade is paying off as he won the tiebreaker with Don to take 5th spot-
-Chad Atkins hasn’t been able to sail much this season but ripped up the course in his very nice new home built boat and took fourth.
-Eric Anderson was a red blur as he was able to edge out Atkins for third-
-Jim Hadley pushed hard and as I said earlier he was fast and fearless as ever- he is going to be back to his old form next year and will be on the podium a lot- great to see him back- He has a tuna stickers on his boat and having him on your tail makes you feel like a baitfish!
-Your author finally listened to a bunch of experts (including three -yes, three- World DN Champs) who have been telling me for years that my boat is set up too stiff- so I set it up for a more user-friendly mode and it worked well enough to get out front- lots of close finishes and an awesome day had by all I think! Complete results below-

The post race party started at Buono’s, a good Italian joint across the street- the party raged into the wee hours and may or may not have involved excessive drinking, certain illicit chemicals, one fight, and some very nice women who were either local pros or waitresses with really terrific attitudes. The cops were also very professional and everyone was bailed out by morning.

Aw, who the hell am I kidding? Dinner was great and I don’t think anyone stayed up beyond about 9:30 and the drugs of choice were one or two beers and/or Advil. We were a tired crew!

Thanks to all for making the trip- great to see everyone! New England report tomorrow- Thanks to Doug Raymond for the photos-

The Doc was pretty cool this year- light breeze in the morning, faded to nothing mid-day for awhile, built nicely in the afternoon- Was nice to have a break to nap and/or socialize on the ice for awhile-

Ice was good in AM and softened as the sun rose and temps went up-

Harry Richardson and Eben Whitcomb had close racing- seemed like they match raced pretty much every lap- Harry pipped Eben to take third.

Chad Atkins and your author had a bit of match race going as well- Chad spent the light air part of the day going around the course and staying in the zone and it paid off after the breeze filled back in- heading into the last race, winner-take-all finale’ he was able to get his nose out front and extend around the course for a convincing win. He gets style points for doing it in his new boat, home built last fall- if you see this craft you will be impressed!

I think he was using full-length, 100 degree runners which stayed on top of the soft ice better than my short 100’s. Maybe I should have tried my full length 90 degree runners or even 90 degree max inserts- those work well in soft ice sometimes. Chad said the extra length no doubt was a little painful in tacks and gybes but it certainly didn’t hurt when he was going in a straight line! We both used Kent (CSI) 4.1 rigs and Chad had a North F-01 sail while I had a 1D Power Gold. Wish I could say what the difference is but to my eye they look pretty darn similar…. Anyway he sailed well and gets his name on a very cool-looking trophy!

We had a few older boats out racing- John Hayes and Richard Gluckman had a little battle of their own going on as well- Brett Reis, Ramblin’ Roger and a few other sailors also had a good day cruising the lake-

Following an awesome fireworks display at the launch ramp dinner was at the Run Of The Mill on the Saco River. 22 oz prime rib. Rare. Phenomenal. Yeah, I slept like a rock that night- thanks to Dave Fortier for letting us all crash at his house and also for keeping score! And thanks to Kelly Klicker for the wrap-around photo of the launch area-

All in all a good day! This season is far from over- the ice is thick and the snow is melting- reports from up north sounding good- We are still hoping to get the Easterns, New Englands and Canadian champs in the books- Stay tuned to this site and don’t mothball your gear yet!

Scores, as best as we can tell…

2015 DOC FELLOWS REGATTA

Chad “Chazzz” Atkins US 4487 1 (S) 2 1 1 5

James “Irving” Thieler US 5224 (S) 1 1 2 2 6

Harry “Divider” Richardson US 5148 2 2 3 3 (3) 10

Eben “Nice Guy” Whitcomb US 4775 3 3 4 4 (4) 14

Dave “WHO?!?” Fortier US 4690 4, 5, S S S

John “Authority Figure” Stanton US 5023 6, 6, ?????

John Hayes and Richard Gluckman had some good racing here but the scores get a bit fuzzy at this point- sorry guys, we will try to do better next time and will work on some nick-names for you both!

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Bob Crinion found this cool aerial video from the European DN champs- Check it out! Some good leeward mark rounding footage and a good view of a start- watch the guy with the red helmet- wish I had starts like that all week! Happy viewing…. T

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Sebago came through! An elite fleet did a five race series to get the 2015 Doc Fellows regatta in the books- Pretty sure Chad Atkins is the winner with your author as runner up- complete results and report later- For now congrats to Chad and thanks to all who sailed and Dave Fortier for scoring-

New England champs on tap for tomorrow- Should be breeze and the ice ain’t bad- Get your bad selves up here and let’s a have a good turnout for the NE’s!

Launch from Nason’s Beach and Campground- drive on the ice! Sweeeet….
See y’all tomorrow- Skipper meeting 0930 at launch.

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The good news is out about Sebago- Lord knows what the weather will do but you can’t play if you don’t show up…

Scouts advise us that there is plenty of room for cruising / touring- should be plenty of that going on as it sounds like several people will be showing up to do just that; I expect to see the usual mix of exotic craft at the launch area- Bring your own creation and join the fun!

There will be a race course as well for the DN regattas- Hopefully this will be away from where the cruising is going on but keep an eye out for it either way. Remember Oliver Moore’s promise to have a start for any class that shows up with three or more boats- food for thought gang! Give it a whirl or watch the action for a bit- Would be fun to see some different boats rounding the marks!

By the way we will be needing a scorer for the races- if you’d like to volunteer send me an email or find me on the ice- DN US 5224 And if anyone wants to fly a drone and take pictures as well as keep score that would be killah- calling Jeff Kent….

See y’all this weekend!!

Commodore T.

James “T” Thieler
12 Channing St.
Newport, RI 02840

401 258 6230
t_thieler

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Good news Folks! Sebago has been scouted; None other than Lloyd Roberts himself informs us: “Its in. Nason’s Beach is open. Lake was sailed today, Thursday, all way across and around Frye Island. Plenty of ice for regatta.Graded at 5-6 by Fortier and Buchholz.Raymond beach and Jordan Bay not so good, major snow field out in Bay.”And so we ARE ON!! Will be attempting two regattas in one weekend unless anyone (including Mother Nature) objects- Most likely Doc Fellows Saturday and New Englands Sunday if we can- This time of year we have to scramble to get the regattas in the books. Usual rules apply- insurance, safe sailing, etc…Stay tuned to this site for details- Nason’s is the place to launch- some cars have driven onto the ice, do so at your own risk and discretion.Spread the word and let’s make the most of the season we have left-

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Caught the bug sailing my friends Skimmer 45 this weekend in Malletts Bay, VT. What a rush! Now looking for a cheap (or less) Skimmer, Skeeter, DN, or what have you ice boat collecting dust in your shed or backyard that you’d like to pass along. I won’t be racing (yet) so it doesn’t need to be perfect. I’m happy to travel to see it…thanks! Contact me at rzim […]

Considering sale of skeeter built by Henry Dube of Western Connecticut Ice yacht club; mast is damaged after falling to the ice. Sail also has two small holes. Fuselage has a small defect as well. Plank is ~15 feet wide, and 32 inch runners are in good shape. Boat has performed well on the ice, and is made from Popular Mechanix plans from 1971. If interested […]

CSI plank for sale- Cedar and glass, 2 1/2″ of crown, bends 1 1/2″ with 190 lb of weight. Good for a heavier sailor or take a sander to it and soften it up a bit…. Gloss black Awlgrip paint, foot pads installed, holes drilled for Struble chock studs. $750 Contact T for details and photos 401 258 6230 t_thieler@yahoo.com

Ice boat hull extension. Cock pit to short!!!! I have just the thing, The hull extension kit. Just cut your hull in half and glue this one in. Be a trend setter. $2500.00 E-mail nthwind1@aol.com and I will get back to you before spring.

For Sale: DN #5022 -built by Luke Buxton in 2001 -sitka spruce sides and front of cockpit, with cedar for the bulkheads -reinforced the mast step area with plywood on either side of the mast step as well as blocking for better bonding -bracing to secure everything -cockpit area has a vaccumed bag a layer of triaxial cloth on either side with a fillet underne […]

Unless you count our honorary Mainer: Ramblin Roger, who scored both regattas. Doug Raymond checks in: “Just back from the Easterns/NE’s. Two fabulous days of racing on Champlain. This photo shows the plate we sailed. If you look hard you … Continue reading →

http://youtu.be/nknGNzWaRa https://youtu.be/NV2nsiopohY Denis sent these two clips from Saturday, and while we were bashing around on Damariscotta ( and the Lamb Gang getting bashed harder on Unity Pond), Bob Lombardo was silently gliding over this ice on Long Pond, Mt. … Continue reading →